Growth in Child Executive Function and Maternal Depressive Symptoms: Maternal Sensitivity as a Mediator

Education and Human Ecology: 3rd Place (The Ohio State University Edward F. Hayes Graduate Research Forum)This study examined the mediating role of maternal sensitivity in the links between trajectories of maternal depressive symptoms and developmental trajectories of child executive function (EF). Participants were 1,364 children and their mothers from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development date set. Maternal depressive symptoms (from 6 months through grade 5) and sensitivity (from 36 months grade 5) decreased over time, while child EF (from grade 1 to 5) increased over time. Mediation effects were found: first, low levels of maternal depressive symptoms at 6 months predicted high levels of child EF at grade 1 through increased levels of maternal sensitivity at 36 months; and second, lower levels of maternal depressive symptoms at 6 months were associated with greater growth in child EF through higher levels of maternal sensitivity at 36 months. The results suggest that maternal depressive symptoms in early childhood are important for children’s EF growth in middle childhood, and furthermore, maternal sensitivity is suggested to serve a mechanism linking the associations between early maternal depressive symptoms and child executive function growth.A one-year embargo was granted for this item